MUST LISTEN: Exclusive Track Premiere From The Breton Sound

Performer us pumped to premiere the new track “Illuminate” from our friends down in New Orleans, The Breton Sound. Listen below and scroll down for more info on the song and the band. Enjoy!

Singer/guitarist Jonathan Pretus had this to say about the new song:

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“A lot of songwriters say that the best songs are already written for you, and just waiting for you to grab them out of the sky. This is one of those examples. It kind of all came together in about a 30 minute period during a rehearsal, just messing around. The groove and chords came, Stephen started playing orchestral guitar swells, and then vocal melody for both the chorus and verse. The gang vocal hook came about just as quick, and in about 30 minutes, quicker than the time it takes to order a pizza, this song was written.

The phrase “illuminate” was something that came out in that initial flood, and I loved the imagery that conveyed off the bat. I started thinking about that feeling when you’re lost and kind of run down, and wishing that something or someone would find you and help bring you to the light.

As a songwriter, I love big, anthemic, arena-ready choruses, and this one just came out swinging for the rafters, so we really wanted to make sure we crafted the song in the studio to capture that vibe, huge drums and guitars, strings, the whole nine yards.

This was the first song we recorded for this EP, at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The rhythm guitar on this song was recorded using the same Hiwatt amp and speaker Alex Chilton used throughout Big Star’s “Radio City” and “Third/Sister Lovers.”

About The Breton Sound New Orleans, LA-based rock band The Breton Sound have been taking the NOLA music scene by force with their energetic, melodic, and anthemic rock and roll. Musically, they have varied influences, from Weezer to Van Halen, The Descendants to Dredg, Oasis to Foo Fighters; however, the band ’s sound has grown into a focused brand of rock that is just as musically impressive as it is restrained. PASTE Magazine hailed them as one of “12 Louisiana Bands You Should Listen To.” This is apparent on their most recent release, Don’t Be Afraid of Rock and Roll, as it’s their strongest material to date.

Producer Tom Drummond of Better than Ezra is back at the helm, having worked on the band’s last two EP’s, MAPS and Eudaemonia. For this release, The Breton Sound traveled around the South to explore their sound and recorded the new album at four studios: Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Zac Brown’s Southern Ground in Atlanta, Georgia, and The Music Shed in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band created their strongest set yet — songs that are definitive, the tone of a band that knows exactly who they are. The album will be released over two separate, digitally released EP’s, followed by a vinyl-only full-length release. The first Don’t Be Afraid of Rock and Roll Volume 1 EP will drop digitally on May 19, with the first single, “Illuminate,” on March 17.

On the touring front, 2014 proved to be the band’s best, as they made appearances at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Milwaukee’s Summerfest, the Voodoo Music Experience, and opened for the Grammy Award-winning Irvin Mayfield and The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Most recently, the band announced their “Desert Island Discs” quarterly covers residency in New Orleans, covering America’s favorite albums in their entirety. The residency is also a way of uniting Louisiana musicians while celebrating their early influences. Their first series at the Gasa Gasa landed them on the cover of the entertainment section of NOLA’s daily paper, The Times-Picayune. As a result, the band sold out its residency debut and booked the same series at the L’Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge.